Licious turning omnichannel with five stores in Bengaluru by June

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Licious will open five physical stores in Bengaluru by June and increase the store count to 35-40 across two-three cities by the end of this fiscal, founders Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura told ET.
The move is aimed at tapping new users in the offline channel and eventually have them transact online as well, they said.

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Over the next five years, the Bengaluru-based startup will aim to have 500 stores across the country as part of its “next big focus” area.

“Traditionally, meat is a category that has always been offline-first, and we’re just going where the customer is,” Hanjura said.

This coincides with several new-age online-first brands that are going offline to acquire new users. ET has been reporting about how tech-first venture funds are also backing consumer brands with retail presence across the food and beverages sector.

Even as it embarks on its omnichannel strategy, Temasek-backed Licious is also looking to turn profitable on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) level by the end of FY25, said Gupta.

The company has an operating profit margin of around 6%, which includes costs around processing, wastage, manufacturing and delivery and excludes marketing and corporate costs, the founders said.

The move comes